Special Education Stakeholders,

Arizona’s 2022 IDEA Conference, Rise Up: Reimagining and Transforming Educational Practices, is only a few months away. We hope to see you September 7–9, 2022 at the JW Marriott Desert Ridge in Phoenix.

ADE/ESS is excited to announce the conference’s Premier and National Speakers, including Carol Kosnitsky, Dr. Erik Carter, Dr. Phil Strain, and Sarah Ward. Please see the conference flyer to learn more about these speakers, additional national presenters, and other exciting conference events.

Registration for the 2022 IDEA Conference is still open. Register for the 2022 IDEA Conference in the Event Management System (EMS). To learn more about registration and see Frequently Asked Questions, please visit the IDEA Conference Registration webpage.

The deadline to apply for the Youth and Family Scholarship and submit Student Artwork for Display is Thursday, June 30, 2022. Please share these opportunities with youth, families, and your colleagues.

Please bookmark the IDEA Conference website and check for updates throughout the summer. Questions about the conference or registration can be sent to the IDEA Conference inbox.

Special Education Administrators,

Starting in August 2022, the National Resource Center for Paraeducators (NRCP) and the Center for Technical Assistance for Excellence in Special Education (TAESE) have organized a year of monthly, low-cost, professional development webinars for paraeducators, teachers, administrators, etc.

Saturday Mornings with the NRCP!

Registration is open and ongoing for 12 webinars! One year of professional development!

Join us on the second Saturday of each month for exciting topics and presenters. The first six months will cover topics such as:

• Working Effectively with Students with Challenging and Severe Behaviors
• Teachers and Paraeducators Team-Teaching in the Classroom and On a Tight Schedule: Enhancing Communication Between Paraeducators and General Education Teachers
• Autism/Non-Verbal Trainings/Strategies
• IEPs, IDEA, Behavior Management Plans, and Transition Plans: What Are My Roles and Responsibilities?
• Dispelling the Myths of Unreachable, Unteachable, and Uncaring Students
• Ten Ways to Help the Non-Worker: Jumpstarting Work Completion Behavior

These webinar topics were selected based on feedback collected during the 2021–22 NRCP Regional conferences. The topics were then prioritized based on responses from a participant survey shared with conference participants and across social media outlets. As an administrator or district and state leader, if you have other topics you feel would be pertinent, please feel free to email us.

Each webinar will cost $25 per person. Session bundles are available. Six webinars can be purchased for $125, or all 12 can be purchased for $250. Each webinar will also be recorded and made available to all registrants for a limited time. Group discounts of 20% are available for groups of five or more participants (not limited to specific sessions or bundles). Email Laura Lema for more information and discount codes.

Please review the Save the Date(s) flyer. Each 2-hour webinar will be held from 10 a.m.–12 p.m. Mountain Standard Time (please be mindful of your specific time zone).  

DATA MANAGEMENT ALERT 

Special Education Data Updates Webinar Wednesday, June 15th   

The Exceptional Student Services Data Management team will be hosting the next Special Education Data Updates live webinar on Wednesday, June 15th from 2pm – 3pm. This session will cover a variety of data topics that will include (subject to change):    

• Reminders
  • Special Education Data Dashboard (SEDD) application
    • Preschool Transition data entry
    • Students without Disabilities data entry
    • Certification
  • Statement of Assurances
  • ESS Discipline Data Collection application
  • Parentally Placed Private School Students Survey
• Trending topics
  • FY23 AzEDS Data Reporting Updates
    • New SPED14 Exit Code
    • SPED LRE E Code Changes
    • Discipline Data Reporting in FY23
• Per your Request
  • Review Tuition Payer Codes
  • How to find your Program Support and Monitoring Specialist
• Top 3 Integrity Errors
• Q&A   

Registration is required to attend: Register for Special Education Data Updates webinar.  

For questions, please contact ESS Data Management via email at [email protected].   

ADE/ESS is excited to share the Vendor/Exhibitor Application for Arizona’s 2022 IDEA Conference, Rise Up: Reimagining and Transforming Educational Practices. This year’s conference will be held in person from September 7–9, 2022 at the JW Marriott Desert Ridge in Phoenix.

Due to reduced capacity at this year’s conference, a limited number of in-person tables will be available. To accommodate this, a virtual option has been added to allow for more opportunities to share your information with conference attendees. Space is not guaranteed. Selections for in-person tables and the virtual option will be based on agency priority.

If interested, please complete the Vendor/Exhibitor Application by Monday, June 20, 2022.

Please bookmark the IDEA Conference website for updates throughout the summer. Questions about the conference can be sent to the IDEA Conference inbox.

Special Education Directors,

ESS/Program Support and Monitoring (PSM) is proud to announce the release of the SY 2022–2023 Programmatic Monitoring Guide Steps. Additionally, is the release memo indicating some of the recent updates. The guide steps are a technical assistance document created to aid PEAs in understanding the requirements specific to programmatic monitoring. Legal compliance, as it relates to a state complaint or due process, may be more extensive. Examples included are intended to provide additional clarification and understanding on how to apply a compliance lens to a student’s evaluation or IEP. These examples should not be taken directly and added to a unique student’s IEP or evaluation, because each student is unique and has his/her own set of circumstances that must be addressed through his/her individual evaluation and IEP.

ESS hopes these guide steps, and the examples, assist PEAs to review created student documents for compliance purposes and assist in the review of systemic, programmatic needs within the PEA.

For questions about the SY 2022—2023 Programmatic Monitoring Guide Steps or programmatic monitoring in general, please contact your PEA’s assigned PSM specialist.

Registration for Teach Camp is closing soon, so be sure to register your new special education teachers for Teach Camp today!

Teach Camp is a year-long support system that includes professional learning specifically designed for beginning special educators. The goal of Teach Camp is to increase the retention of special educators by providing our newest special education teachers with the tools they need to survive and thrive during their first years in the classroom.

Teach Camp is designed for special education teachers who will begin their first, second, or third year of teaching special education in the fall of 2022. Recent graduates from traditional teacher preparation programs, alternative certified teachers, and veteran general education teachers transitioning to special education are all welcome.

Teach Camp will be in person this summer! The cost is $175 per teacher and includes:

• 3-day summer “camp” to be held June 27–29, 2022 in Phoenix* (breakfast and lunch provided)
• Two 1-hour, virtual, after-school sessions, one in the fall and one in the spring, with national speakers
• A copy of The Survival Guide for New Special Education Teachers
• A one-year membership to the Council for Exceptional Children
• Additional valuable resources

*Information regarding travel reimbursement for participants from eligible PEAs will be provided once registration is completed.

Registration for Teach Camp is open until June 6, 2022, on a first-come, first-served basis.

Register for Teach Camp!

Please email the ESS Recruitment and Retention Inbox with any questions about Teach Camp. For more information about Teach Camp, pleasevisit the ESS Teach Camp webpage.

Special Education Directors,

Please share the following virtual math professional learning opportunities with general and special education teachers who teach mathematics.

Creating Accessible Mathematics Classrooms (Grades K-5)

Special Guest Speaker: Andrew Gael 

Tuesday, June 21, 2022 from 10:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m.

Register in advance for Creating Accessible Mathematics Classrooms.

Count Me In! Integers Series

Attendance at both Count Me In! Integers Series sessions is not required but recommended. A computer or tablet with the ability to access Google slides is not required but is strongly recommended to enable full participation in the session.

Count Me In! Exploring Adding and Subtracting Integers 

Thursday, July 7, 2022 from 10:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m.

Register in advance for Count Me In! Exploring Adding and Subtracting Integers. 

Count Me In! Exploring Multiplying and Dividing Integers

Friday, July 8, 2022 from 10:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m.

Register in advance for Count Me In! Exploring Multiplying and Dividing Integers.

 Introduction to Fluency with Whole Numbers 

Monday, July 11, 2022 from 10:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m.

Register in advance for Introduction to Fluency with Whole Numbers

Count Me In! Algebra Tiles Series 

Attendance at both Count Me In! Algebra Tiles sessions is recommended but not required. These sessions will not be recorded. A computer or tablet with the ability to access Google slides is not required but is strongly recommended to enable full participation in the session.

Algebra Tiles Part 1: Exploration of Algebraic Expressions

Tuesday, July 12, 2022 from 10:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m.

Register in advance for Algebra Tiles Part 1.

 Algebra Tiles Part 2: Exploration of Substitution and Solving Equations

Wednesday, July 13, 2022 from 10:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m.

Register in advance for Algebra Tiles Part 2.

 Note: Accommodations must be requested at least one week in advance of each webinar. 

 Please email Jenifer Fernandez or email Rob Hilliker with any questions.

DATA MANAGEMENT ALERT

NEW Special Education Data Dashboard

The NEW Special Education Data Dashboard (SEDD) opens on Wednesday, May 18, 2022 (today). The purpose of this application is to provide a one-stop shop for public education agencies (PEAs) to securely view their special education data as well as a redacted statewide view. By viewing relevant data in one place, PEAs can see how it all ties together and ultimately, how it all culminates into the indicators outlined in the State Performance Plan (SPP) / Annual Performance Report (APR).

User roles previously established in the archived Annual Data Collection (ADC) application have been transitioned to the new SEDD roles and related permissions. Users without previous access to the ADC application will need to request one of the applicable roles from their local ADEConnect Entity Administrator:

• SEDD LEA User: includes edit permissions
• SEDD LEA Signer: includes edit and signer permissions

To access the SEDD application, please login to ADEConnect, navigate to the Exceptional Student Services Portal and select the Special Education Data Dashboard button under Data Collection & Reporting.

Currently, the only active component that is accessible to PEAs is the Student Exit Data for FY 2022. From the home page of the SEDD application, you can select this component either through the ‘Data’ menu option or you can click ‘Go’ with the red box.

Exit data will be extracted from AzEDS daily and displayed after federal business rules have been applied (refer to the Exit technical assistance doc under the ‘Help’ menu option which will take you to the SEDD website that contains the applicable tools and resources). This data is REVIEW only. Any changes to this data will need to be made through your Student Information System and uploaded/synced to AzEDS. You will have until July 15, 2022, by 5:00pm to finalize your Exit data.

For the remainder of FY 2022 data requirements, we will activate Preschool Transition Data and Students Without Disabilities (expulsion) components on June 30, 2022. Note that these two sections will require data entry to complete.

Please be aware that this application will be expanded further to include the following items in FY 2023 and 2024:

• LRE Placement
• Personnel
• SPP/APR Indicators
• PEA Determinations/Risk Analysis
• Discipline for Students with Disabilities
• Assessments
• Data Visualization

If you did not attend the Special Education Data Updates (SEDU) webinar in April, feel free to review the recording available on our website under Training Opportunities or on our YouTube Channel. Note the SEDD portion begins at 3:57.

Please direct any questions to [email protected].

DATA MANAGEMENT ALERT

FY22 Parentally Placed Private School Student Survey required by all Public School Districts only opens on 5/18/22

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) 2004 requires that each public education agency (PEA) maintain its records and provide to the State information related to parentally placed private elementary and secondary school student covered under §§ 300.130 through 300.144.

The application will open on 5/18/22 and close for submissions on 8/3/22.

• The PEA must assign the role at the district level of ESS Data Surveys: User in ADEConnect to the individual that will submit this survey.

• Instructions: Parentally Placed Private School Students

• FAQs: Parentally Placed Private School Students

Once the role is assigned, please login to ADEConnect, navigate to the Exceptional Student Services Portal (ESS) and select the ESS Data Surveys application. From there you can click on the blue hyperlinked text “FY22 Parentally Placed Private School Students Survey” to start the survey.

Upon completion the application will display a “Thank you for submitting” page.

Please direct any questions to [email protected].